Abolishing Performance Appraisals is an extensive look at the downfalls of the traditional performance appraisals. While performance appraisals often leave employees feeling distressed and dissatisfied, they continue to be implemented and used in 90% of our organizations. This read digs deeper into whether performance appraisals are actually necessary for employees to thrive in the workplace and their lack of consistency with the progressive organization cultures we’re pivoting to. It will also provide you with insightful guidance to proceed with abolishing performance appraisals and shifting towards more progressive methods to provide employee feedback, recognition and most importantly performance management.

Out with the old and in with the new. Drive disposes of old team motivation practices and introduces new insight on reaching higher levels of performance and employee satisfaction for the future of work. Based on academic research on human psychology and what motivates us, Drive exposes the inconsistency of what new data is telling us and what we’re currently doing in attempt to motivate ourselves and others. Pink doesn’t discredit the former practices for their effectiveness but rather, demonstrates how the challenges of today’s employees are what’s changed. Drive centralizes three elements of motivation:

Autonomy: We have the inherent desire to take control of our own lives.

Mastery: We want to improve in areas we feel makes a difference.

Purpose: We dream of being part of something that is larger than life.

Drive isn’t all numbers either, Pink effectively demonstrates the new motivational practices in the form of case studies on company success stories. This is a read that will motivate you to take steps towards transforming your future place of work.

Do you believe that there can be more than one leader? Holacracy is a management system that claims to make everyone into the leader their heart desires. Here is how Holacracy works in brief: the system distributes the power of decision making throughout teams with the intent to move organizations towards having no hierarchy and job titles. This management system can be thought of as the efficient, individually driven, and more forward thinking than most.

As much as Holacracy may initially sound like an anarchy, it’s much more structured than it appears. It’s a new management system that incorporates more frontline employees in the decision making process for empowerment.

Still not too convinced about this new management methodology? Some organizational practitioners of Holacracy included Zappos.com, Blogger, Medium and Twitter.

Interested in what the visionary of Google’s People Operations thinks is the blueprint for identifying and retaining top talent? From the company that brought fame to OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) we bring you the latest research on behavioural economics how to transform work–the most time we’ll dedicate our lives to.

Work Rules! is a light read with a compelling topic of discussion that offers some of the following insight:

There is always something to learn from your best and worst employees.

Having said that, only hire those you believe are smarter than you at all costs.

Take away power from managers and distribute some to employees.

Your gut might be wrong. Data is a better predictor of what the future looks like.

Keep the workplace transparent and actually welcome feedback from employees.

If you’re comfortable with the amount of freedom your employees are being given, you having pushed it far enough.

This read also includes stories of underdog companies that have come out strong as a result of listening to employees, delegating power from management and overall treating everyone as adults.

Is the time value of reading this book not quantifiable enough for you? Work Rules! provides an introduction to measuring quality of life when aiming for a balance between structure, flexibility and creativity at work and beyond.